Computers, along with computer data entry devices, have become ubiquitous in developed countries. While computer technology has advanced markedly in recent years, the most common data entry device--the keyboard--remains essentially unchanged from its original design, which dates back nearly a century. This original mechanical design, developed by Shoals for the Remington Small Arms Company, is commonly referred to as a "QWERTY" design, after the first six characters in the top row of letter keys. The QWERTY design was developed before ergonomic considerations became important. Consequently, the conventional QWERTY design causes repetitive stress injuries by requiring excessive pronation of the wrists and lateral movement of certain fingers between keys.
Further, the QWERTY key layout was not designed for optimal data input speed, but rather to ensure that typists did not overtax the moving assemblies in mechanical typewriters. Moreover, QWERTY keyboards consume a relatively large area, which presents a problem in small workplaces in which many other desktop devices might be located. Nevertheless, the cumbersome, unergonomic, inefficient design of standard QWERTY keyboards remains incorporated in most computer data entry systems.
Not surprisingly, alternative data entry "keyboards" have been developed, each attempting to address a select one of the above-noted deficiencies of the QWERTY keyboard. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,654 to Gopher et al. discloses a chordic keyboard system having a left hand keyboard and a right hand keyboard, with each keyboard including four finger keys on a first surface and four thumb keys on a second surface. The second surface is ergonomically angled relative to the first surface. Thus, the user of the Gopher et al. device is not required to move his or her fingers other than to operate a single key dedicated to the finger, thereby alleviating a source of repetitive stress injury. Unfortunately, however, the device of Gopher et al. requires separate left and right keyboards, each with an integral palm rest, which is somewhat space-inefficient. Also, as mentioned above the Gopher et al. device requires the user to learn a chorded system, in which plural keys must be activated simultaneously to input a single character. It is relatively cumbersome to memorize and then execute these multiple-key character inputs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,573 to Retter discloses a keyboard having left and right handpads, with each handpad having four wells for respectively receiving a user's fingers therein. In most wells, five switches are provided, so that each finger can input five characters in a non-chorded (i.e., single keystroke) system. Unfortunately, side wall switches in each well require awkward lateral finger motion to operate. Further, the Retter device mimics the inefficient QWERTY key layout, and, like the above-mentioned Gopher et al. device, it requires two separate units with handpads. Consequently, it also consumes excessive desk top space.
In addition to the above-mentioned devices which seek to improve the ergonomics of data entry keyboards, devices such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,493 to Einbinder propose a keyboard character layout that improves character input efficiency (i.e., typing speed), without necessarily addressing the ergonomic or space concerns discussed above. For example, as recognized by Einbinder, certain digraphs (two successive letters) appear relatively frequently in English text, and the keyboard can be improved by locating the letters of the alphabet on the keyboard such that high frequency digraphs can be input more efficiently. Unfortunately, none of the QWERTY alternatives, including Einbinder, have proven sufficiently better to induce users to change from the familiar QWERTY layout.
Still further, none of the above-mentioned devices recognize the desirability of further increasing user efficiency by incorporating a telephone in the keyboard itself, such that the user can operate a telephone without requiring the use of a separate telephone keypad, and without requiring the associated computer to process the call. As recognized by the present invention, however, it is possible to provide a data entry keyboard which is compact, ergonomic, efficient, and which incorporates a telephone in the device itself, so that a user need not release a data entry keyboard to use a telephone.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a data entry device which is compact. Another object of the present invention is to provide a data entry device which is ergonomic. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a data entry device which incorporates efficient character layouts in plural languages and a separate English layout that mimics the QWERTY design. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a data entry device which includes a telephone. Another object of the present invention is to provide a data entry device which includes finger wells or cavities having plural switches that are operable by finger pressure, and which does not require lateral finger motion to operate a switch. Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide a data entry device which is easy to use and cost effective to manufacture.